


Moments of Understanding

by battleselfie



Series: Promptis Week 2017 [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Falling In Love, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Promptis Week, noctis takes way too long to figure out he has a crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-26 08:07:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12054816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/battleselfie/pseuds/battleselfie
Summary: Prompto knew right away. Noctis took a little more time. Each moved at their own pace, but they both reached the same conclusion.---For Promptis Fanweek Day 1: Realization- the moment they knew it was love





	Moments of Understanding

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Promptis Week!
> 
> Somehow this fic ended up as an odd, short little thing with no dialogue. I got so caught up focusing on their emotions in the scenes that adding spoken words felt really off. So yeah, enjoy ^^

Prompto was - and always had been - an overthinker. It was a habit he picked up in the lowest parts of his life, when every odd look or passing comment directed toward him _had_ to be hatred and disgust. That's what his brain told him when he thought too long about it. Even the single word “heavy” surely must have meant he wasn't good enough.

Over the years, he eased up on himself a bit. Not everything about him had to be negative. Prompto learned not to be so harsh to his own reflection, and to admit to himself that he was wanted and appreciated. Or at least he was by Noctis, but did he really need that approval from anybody besides a prince? Let alone a prince who happened to be the single most incredible person he had ever met. That was more than enough for him.

So the negativity drifted to the back of his mind. It was still there, of course. It would probably be there the rest of his life, but he learned to ignore it and move on. The overthinking, however, never left.

That was why his realization came so early. It was a little thing, really. On a day several months after they properly met, Prompto spun around in his chair to face Noctis' desk as he took his seat in the minutes before class. He showed Noctis a handful of new photos he had snapped the night before, going on about the lighting and angles and framing and all sorts of things he knew Noct didn't really understand. A wave of embarrassment washed over him as he realized he was probably boring his poor friend to death, but when he looked up to apologize, the words caught in his throat.

Noctis sat with his elbow on the desk and his head propped against his hand. There was a look on his face that Prompto wasn't used to. He smiled, tired but relaxed, with a gentle fondness in his eyes that told Prompto he could go on all day if he wanted to. Noctis would listen to every single word.

Prompto couldn't focus in class that day. His thoughts shot by at a thousand miles per hour every time that smile popped into his head. Was that just a look friends gave each other, or... Well, why did he even care? Why couldn't he let this go?

He slowly moved from analyzing the look to analyzing his reaction to it. The way his heart beat just a touch faster and the room was a few degrees warmer. How he couldn't stop replaying that split second over and over and over again. It only took him until dinnertime that night to figure out he had a crush.

Pursuing the Crown Prince of his nation was a terrible idea. Nobody had to tell him that. So he bottled it all up and stored it away. It would die eventually. After all, it was just a little crush.

It didn't go away though. In fact, his feelings for Noctis only grew over time. He continued to tell himself that it was just a crush. It wasn't serious. He could handle it.

When he was 16, his second realization hit him. Prompto stayed over at Noctis' apartment for the first time, and he couldn't be more nervous. This was Noct's home. Sure, it might not be the Citadel, but it was where he slept and ate and showered, and it seemed too private for him to see. The months of security clearance it took to get him there definitely didn't help.

That night, they slept in the living room. Prompto insisted on taking the couch, and Noctis stubbornly rolled out a sleeping bag on the floor and shared the room instead of going to his own room. Making him sleep on the floor was mortifying. But after arguing in circles for a few minutes, Prompto gave up and let the matter go. Noctis refused to budge when he set his mind to something.

Hours later, with the sun far below the horizon and the lights shut off, their lively conversation turned serious. It was always easier to get things off your chest in the dark. Prompto confessed some of his own deep-seated insecurities. Some things Noct had heard before, some of them new. Prompto smiled when he thanked Noctis for his reassurances, but he couldn't make himself believe any of it.

Noctis vented about anything and everything involving royal life. The rigorous training he just couldn't get the hang of, the pressure to succeed and excel in school, the looming reminders that one day he would lose his dad and be expected to live up to an entire nation's expectations. All of the weight that he carried on his shoulders every day, only to be called lazy and ungrateful at every turn.

At that moment, Prompto wanted nothing more than to join Noctis on the floor and hold him. To run his hands through his hair and let him know exactly how incredible he was, and to fall asleep with Noctis in his arms and see his face first thing in the morning. He ached for it. Prompto wanted nothing more than to be at his side and make him as happy as he possibly could.

That was when he realized he didn't just have a crush. He was in love.

 

* * *

 

Emotions were never Noctis' strong point. He had trouble reading tone and body language in discussions, and even more trouble portraying his own feelings effectively. Unfortunately for both himself and his best friend, that also meant he didn't always understand new feelings right away.

Prompto was an enigma for much of their first year as friends. He had waited for years for this boy to stop hiding behind a corner and finally talk to him. Noctis was fully aware of what a hypocrite he was, seeing Prompto struggle to work up the courage and being too nervous to make that first move himself. Once they did start talking, things only got weirder. Noctis had friends. He knew what it felt like to hang out with Ignis or Gladio or Iris. Prompto never made him feel the same way.

When he was around, there was an ever-present tightness in his chest, like a hand squeezed tight and refusing to let his heart work properly. It was similar to an anxious reaction, but that couldn't be it. Prompto made him happier than anybody he'd ever known. How could he possibly be anxious about that?

When the staring started, Noctis didn't catch himself at first. Prompto had a habit of letting his eyes flick about the room while they talked. He always figured his attention span was a little short. Noctis' eyes were drawn down more often than not, intently focused on Prompto's lips as he chattered on. He never missed a single word, but that sight was captivating. Prompto was extremely expressive in a way that even Noctis could read somewhat easily. His lips alone gave away every emotion.

The staring had shifted to Prompto's freckles and that faint hint of purple hidden in his blue eyes before he noticed what he was doing. Was that weird? He wasn't sure. But Prompto never noticed, so when his gaze shifted to Prompto's arms and even lower, he couldn't find a reason to stop himself.

That same first sleepover, while Prompto pretended to be asleep on the couch as he mulled over how the hell he would handle being head over heels in love with his best friend, Noctis finally got the first hint toward his own feelings.

He knew Prompto better than anybody at that point. Reading him was a simple task compared to any of the other people in his life. It was clear that Noctis' reassurances earlier in the night didn't sink in. Even in the dark, Noctis could see how his smile didn't reach his eyes. He spent the night imagining what he could have done to make him understand how much Noctis cared about him. Could he have said more? Or worded things differently? Maybe if he kissed him then he would--

Noctis froze. Maybe if he _what_? Where the hell did that come from?

All at once, everything from the last year fell into place. He desperately tried not to acknowledge what he now understood. If he didn't, maybe it would go away. Maybe if he didn't admit that he fell hard and fast for Prompto, it wouldn't be real. Then he wouldn't have to figure out how to deal with it.

The next morning, he accepted that his crush was real, and it had been around for most of the year. There was no denying it. Once that first thought crossed his mind, all the others were far too obvious.

Noctis grew distant over the next week. He had to break this. There was no way he would let it get out of hand and risk ruining his friendship with the greatest person he had ever known. Maybe a little space would help. But Prompto asked if Noctis was mad at him, and that whole plan went out the window in an instant. It looked like he had to hang on and ride it out. It had to end eventually.

He should have known it was never that easy.

Two years later, he was used to ignoring it. Prompto gave him plenty of opportunities to practice shoving his feelings aside, with his captivating smile and addicting energy and the fact that he all but moved into Noctis' apartment after high school. Keeping himself in check was essential.

One early summer evening, after the fourth dinner Prompto ate at his place in a row, everything made a turn for the worse. Prompto was already dressed for bed. It wasn't anything unusual. A plain black tank top and the same red plaid pajama pants he wore the night before. Cozy, comfortable, and entirely normal.

Looking at him, however, something was different. The light of the TV glowed on his face, and that smile he loved so much grew brighter as he finished up a boss fight he was stuck on for days. His fist shot up in the air as his cheers and laughter filled the dimly lit room, and Noctis wanted nothing more than to keep that little moment forever. Prompto, comfortable and carefree and so full of life.

Noctis discovered, in that split second, that his feelings shifted somewhere along the way. It wasn't just about Prompto being gorgeous or Noctis spending nights alone filled with shame at exactly what he imagined doing to him. That was lust, wasn't it? A side effect of your run-of-the-mill crush. But that wasn't what he felt any more, or at least not exclusively. He wanted Prompto to live with him for real, even when the time came to move back to the Citadel. Noctis could spend every day making sure such an amazing person lived the life he deserved, happy and wanting for nothing.

He was in love. Maybe he had been all along.

 


End file.
